Our Journey to Missions

Here is a little bit of our story of how God was faithful to work in our lives, and show us his love for all peoples.  In high school we were able to go on a few short term mission trips growing up, but never really felt a burden for missions until after we started dating. Cameron has loved aviation since he was very young and when he first heard about mission aviation it seemed like a perfect combination.

One of the key introductions to mission aviation was the movie 'End of the Spear' about Nate Saint, Jim Elliot and three other missionaries. These men had flown onto a sandbar in the jungles of Ecuador to try to create a relationship with the Waodani tribe, but through a miscommunication this tribe killed the missionaries on the beach. Later their wives and kids moved into the jungle to help the tribe who were suffering from an epidemic and shared the Gospel with that whole community. It is such a powerful story!

Cameron first met an MAF recruiter in 2008 while in flight training, shortly after we were married. He came home and showed me the pamphlets, and a calendar and told me about the awesome work MAF was doing globally. For years we considered if this was the direction God was calling us towards, but didn't have a peace about it.

The Cessna Caravan that Cameron flew up in Bristol Bay Alaska

Meanwhile, after completing flight training and getting some experience flying in Alaska Cameron was offered a job to fly for an air ambulance-which was a total miracle with the amount of experience he had at the time. God used this opportunity to show us that our hearts were really drawn to mission aviation, so Cameron turned down the job and applied to go to Moody to become an airplane mechanic. We put in our application to Mission Aviation Fellowship in January 2014.



Cameron removing and reinstalling a PT-6 engine at Moody

 

Once Cameron completed his aviation maintenance training at Moody we were now qualified to test with MAF. Mission Aviation Fellowship flies in some very dangerous environments and therefore have high expectations for pilots and mechanics coming in to MAF.

 

They have a two week test for those who pass the initial application process called the technical evaluation (TE) which includes mechanical skills, pilot testing, simulator flights, aptitude tests, and psychological testing. The TE is the dreaded test for those going into mission aviation at any organization. It's that inevitable test that you fear though out your training. Thank the Lord, we passed in November!

 

 

 We just finished 4 weeks at Mission Aviation Fellowships Candidate and Ministry Partnership seminars. As of January 20 we were official MAF missionaries. During our time in Candidacy we learned about the various ministries and inner workings of MAF. We are so honored and excited to be apart of this organization! Getting to know the people and heart of MAF has been so encouraging.

Speaking at MAF Chapel

Class photo with our instructors

 Mission Aviation Fellowship serves in 14 countries through out the world in the most isolated areas. We have been assigned to Indonesia. This is where we have been hoping to go for three years now, and are thrilled.